People of Colour in Advertising and Marketing (POCAM) is aiming to address the challenges facing BIPOC creatives in Quebec with the launch of a Montreal chapter.

Unveiled last week with an event at Plus Company’s Montreal office, POCAM standing committee member Ken Saint-Eloy tells strategy that the decision to expand to Quebec was informed by the non-profit’s 2024 Visible and Vocal survey that showed 16% of respondents to be French speakers.

“The way immigration works for Quebec programs versus the rest of Canada, totally changes the game,” Saint-Eloy says. “And then when you add the layer of the way Quebecers operate, the way they protect the culture, the way they protect their traditions is another layer of limitation on top of the paperwork administration.”

The launch of the Montreal chapter will develop Quebec-specific resources to help fulfill POCAM’s broader mission of promoting equal opportunities for BIPOC professionals in the advertising and marketing industry beyond Ontario.

Saint-Eloy says he is developing a plan to host quarterly touchpoint events where creatives can network and share experiences, tools and insights. He says last week’s launch event showed there was also a strong appetite for the foundation of formalized mentorship program in Quebec.

“The ambition of the chapter is to make sure that we offer the same opportunity for BIPOC talents in Montreal to come together and find their people,” Saint-Eloy says.

POCAM is a not-for-profit volunteer-run organization founded in 2020 that conducts research on BIPOC experiences in the industry and gives registered members access to networks and chat groups from a community of more than 2,000 people.

In POCAM’s Canadian BIPOC Advertising & Marketing Study, BIPOC respondents said they are seeing a decline in progress with 56% reporting positive workplace inclusion and advancement change in 2024, down from 67% in 2023 and 73% in 2022.

And in the 2024 Visible and Vocal survey, 60% of BIPOC participants said they had experienced workplace racial discrimination and 80% reported experiencing microaggressions.